Nouvelles de nos diplômés

[June 2017] At Spring Convocation, Professor Helena Lamed, BCL'82, was awarded the 2017 John W. Durnford Teaching Excellence Award. This well-deserved recognition, which comes at the moment when Professor Lamed is retiring, was an opportunity to recognize the lasting impact her teaching has had on the generations of students she has taught since she first came to the Faculty. Read the story.

[Apr. 2017] The Droit Autrement / Legal Alternative (DALA) student group is rethinking the potential of a law degree. We showcase one of their “Lawfully Uncommon” interviews with Tanya de Mello, BCL/LLB’11, Director of Human Rights Services at Ryerson University. Read the interview or peruse other Lawfully Uncommon conversations.

[Apr. 2017] In March, the Faculty was happy to host its annual Scholarship Reception, where donors and student scholarship recipients have the opportunity to meet and converse. See some photos of this inspiring evening.

[Jan. 2017] Annamaria Enenajor, Anthony Morgan, and Malcolm Lavoie – three alums from the class of 2012 – weigh in on current affairs, and Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne, DCL’96, signs an opd on aviation and sustainable development.

[Nov. 2016] Charles Jalloh, BCL/LLB’02, was elected to the UN’s International Law Commission; President and CEO of TVO Lisa de Wilde, LLB’80, was recruited as an outside expert by Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly; Stephen Toope, BCL’83, LLB’83, talks about his nomination as the head of the University of Cambridge; and Alanna Devine, BCL/LLB’06, & Sophie Gaillard, BCL/LLB’12, are Montreal SPCA lawyers who have been fighting the city’s pitbull ban.

[Sep. 2016] As the general counsel for Pokémon International, Don McGowan, BCL’97, LLB’97, was among the first to play Pokémon Go, the game that took the world by storm this summer. Having worked on a staggering array of legal issues – marketing, licensing, intellectual property, negotiating product placements and devising contracts – McGowan credits his ability to be nimble to his McGill education.

Claire Kirkland-Casgrain, BA’47, BCL’50, LLD’97, was a lawyer, judge and politician who blazed a trail for women in the halls of power everywhere. Her funeral in Montreal in April was the first ‘National funeral’ for a woman in Quebec.

Institute of Air and Space Law graduate Jimena Blumenkron, LLM’09, is a legal and policy expert who specializes in aviation law and governance who is forging the way for women in her field. She sat down with Focus online to discuss her career.

Ngozi Okidegbe, BCL/LLB'15, first arrived in Montreal eight years ago because she had fallen in love with the city during a visit from her native Washington D.C. She has made a practice of reaching for the long shots, and it has paid off.

Shobhita Soor, BCL/LLB, MBA’15, was part of the McGill Aspire team that won Bill Clinton’s Hult Prize in 2013 for their idea to address hunger in urban slums by farming insects. In this video, she explains the vision and logic of this idea.

In this the November 2015 Focus onlineround-up, Jennifer Stoddart receives an honorary degree, Corina Manole, BCL/LLB’15, and Étienne Cossette-Lefebvre, BCL/LLB’14, are on the Quebec Bar’s Honour Roll of Excellence, and law grads become Members of Parliament.

Benjamin Flight, Miatta Gorvie and Doug Garson all found their way to Iqaluit after graduation. To hear them tell it, living and working in Nunavut is not that different from working in Montreal or Toronto — save the occasional glimpse of the aurora borealis on the commute home.

In this new video from the Faculty, six influential and accomplished McGill Law alumni discuss how their law degrees have shaped their careers. Hear from David Sandomierski, BCL/LLB'08; Tanya De Mello, BCL/LLB'11; Jan-Fryderyk Pleszczynski, BCL'00, LLB'00; Catherine McKenna, LLB'09; Patrick M. Shea, BCL'99, LLB'99; and Jennifer Stoddart, BCL'80.

In March 2015, Current Vice Chair of Bell Quebec Martine Turcotte, BCL’82/LLB’82, spoke at a special event at the Omni Mont-Royal about her career and current portfolio as part of a series featuring McGill alumna.

Brian Gallant, LLM’11, is the only premier in Canada who might have to worry about getting carded in a bar. The youthful-looking 32-year-old is the new head of the government of New Brunswick and the youngest premier in Canada.

Meet Michelle Ratpan (BCL/LLB’06), a litigation specialist at the World Bank who investigates allegations of fraud, corruption and more around the world. As a litigation specialist with the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), a unit of about 100 people within the World Bank in Washington, D.C., Ratpan’s team is dedicated to investigating fraud in development projects funded by the organization.

Nafay Choudhury (BCL/LLB’11) talks about teaching law in Kabul, just after the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan. He spent 14 months as an assistant professor at the American University of Afghanistan.

The Honorable John H. Gomery (BCL’56) chatted with Focus online about his rocky start as at student at the Faculty of Law, his memories of Frank R. Scott, and the question of corruption, before giving the Friends of the Library’s annual F.R. Scott Lecture.

Dean Daniel Jutras hosted his annual end-of-year Festive Reception on December 13, inviting members of the McGill Law community to share in some collegial cheer. We bring you a few highlights from that evening.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the combined BCL/LLB program, we caught up with ten of the first graduates of the McGill Program and asked how their career path was inspired by their legal education at McGill.